“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I feel the need to tell you not to venture inside during any of your tests either. We have a video feed running now, so if you need to see anything, head over to the command central tent. I have a feeling Taylor will be hiding out there to get out of any tasks that involve manual labor this afternoon,” Aarik finished and looked at her one more time before he turned and headed towards the parking lot.
Aarik arrived at the same time as the delivery truck pulled to a screeching stop. When the dust plume settled, it revealed a shiny new Bobcat mini excavator and a mean looking Honda Rubicon 500 perched on the trailer. The government spared no expense; the mini had two attachments; a bucket currently connected and a grappling hook that resembled a large claw. Aarik eyed the dimensions of the two workhorses and was positive they would fit through the chamber entrance, expediting the process.
As the driver unloaded the equipment from the truck, Aarik scanned the parking lot for anything that stood out as expensive. His eyes were drawn to an H3 Hummer parked in the furthest spot away at an angle that occupied more than one space. The dick move was something Aarik felt Diego was capable of and only confused him more on where Diego could be, there weren’t many places to hide and he didn’t seem like the type to go on a nature walk. He decided that as soon as the equipment was settled, he would ask around and do some snooping of his own.
He instructed Cooper and Tanner to load the grapple into the bucket of the mini so that Mark could drive it closer to Vos’rok and laughed when Luke begged him for a spin on the ATV. “Please. I have my license.”
“I’ll let you take it to the beginning of the trail, but park it there, buddy. Let someone with more experience drive it to the entrance. I trust your skills are near perfection, but those vehicles are not mine and I would prefer someone with years of experience behind the wheel,” replied Aarik sternly. Luke nodded reluctantly. His attempt to hide his disappointment was a miserable failure. “Hurry back after Phil takes it to the chamber, I have the perfect assignment for you,” Aarik added quickly, and gave himself an internal high five when Luke’s expression changed from depression to excitement in a matter of seconds.
“Before you all take off, remember, don’t enter the chamber. Kiya will be running some tests this afternoon and because it’s better to be safe than sorry, we have agreed to take the afternoon off.” The men and Larissa started to cheer before Aarik cut them off, “Hey. I hate to break it to you… but just because we have to stay out of the chamber doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty to do. We will take this time to sort, clean, and catalog any artifacts we were lucky enough to find in those piles of dirt removed over the last few days. Mark and Phil, make sure you come right back. I’d like to get through with what we have before dinner. Wait. Before everyone heads out, anyone seen Diego since he left this afternoon?”
It wasn’t a surprise to Aarik when a resounding no echoed throughout the group and it only made his suspicions feel more grounded. Luke sprinted back and Aarik told him of his plan, to tail Diego, on their way back to camp. Luke stopped walking and looked up at Aarik and said, “You realize this looks like you are jealous, right?”
“Jealous, me. Never. There’s nothing between Kiya and myself. Besides I have nothing to be jealous of. The fact of the matter is the guy disappeared and no one has seen him since. This isn’t the first time either and that doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe I’m wrong, but I would rather chase this feeling than be blindsided later. Are you in or not?” spewed Aarik angrily.
“Geez, Doc, take a breather. I never said I wasn’t. The guy rubs me the wrong way with his self-righteous attitude and the way he treats Kiya downright offends me,” replied Luke.
“Explain your last statement pronto,” growled Aarik in a threatening voice, as he tried to hold himself back from shaking the kid for the information faster.
“Sorry. Should have thought that one through. He’s never touched her in front of me, he just leers at her and is rude and I’ve noticed she looks visibly shaken sometimes after they’ve spoken,” finished Luke in a shaky voice.
“I asked you to keep an eye on her, which also meant that if you noticed something of significance that you would pass that information on to me,” Aarik gritted out between tightly taught lips. He closed his eyes and counted to ten before he sighed roughly and opened his eyes. “Next time, I don’t want you to hold anything back. In fact, forget your mission. I want you to go hang out with Kiya and make sure she is never alone again.”
“Wow talk about a complete one-eighty. Look, I’ll give you a play by play from now on but babysitting a capable woman is not something I signed up for. Hunting down a missing yuppie is not something I signed up for either, for that matter. I asked Kiya if she needed my help earlier and she said no. If I show up uninvited it will be uncomfortable and not to mention creepy. It'd be worse than doggie doo on her shoe. Be reasonable. Wow, listen to me. I sound like the adult here. My mom would be ecstatic,” Luke finished in a proud voice.
Aarik laughed out loud listening to Luke’s rant. “You’re right. I do sound like some irrational fool. Just make sure…”
“I know, I know ...make sure I leave nothing out. I’ll even ensure my walkabout zone includes a couple drive bys if you know what I mean,” Luke said and winked.
“Thanks, Luke. I really don’t think we have anything to worry about, but if Diego looks like he’s up to no good or, god forbid, needs help, don’t be a hero. Come and get me,” Aarik said as an afterthought.
“Of course. Although I would never stand by if an innocent victim’s life or dignity was at stake. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I scampered off to get help and something bad happened that I could have prevented. I’ll scream and holler, but I won’t run. Just so you know,” finished Luke with certainty.
“Can’t argue with that or I would be a damn hypocrite. Can you whistle?” Aarik asked, as he smiled down at the kid with pride.
“Not very loudly, it’s rather pathetic really. I could make a bird call or something similar. It could be our secret code for I need help or come quickly,” Luke said in excitement.
“Good idea. What do you have in mind?” Aarik asked energetically, finding it hard to resist the kid’s enthusiasm.
“I could do a rooster, although that’s not very subtle. Oh, I got it. How about a mourning dove? It could symbolize a couple different things if you know what I mean,” Luke joked but demonstrated a fairly decent replica of a mourning dove call before Aarik had a chance to turn him down without hearing it.
“Not bad, but I’m only accepting it because mourning doves are native to this area and won’t stand out, like anything else you might come up with. I’ll meet you back at the chow hall for dinner. Hopefully one of us is successful,” Aarik finished, and continued onto the command tent to get everyone started before he could sneak away without looking suspicious and find out what that guy was up to. Aarik felt there had to be a reasonable explanation for the sudden feelings of doom that brought out this male alpha dog in him that barked and snapped at other male competitors.
Chapter Nineteen
Kiya
Kiya watched Aarik until his form disappeared around the bend before she pulled out her laptop and set it on her makeshift table reluctantly. After lunch she hid in her tent and paced back and forth while she contemplated her next steps. It would seem apparent to others that her mind would be solely focused on her work and that all her thoughts would be devoted to solidifying the science behind her creation. Instead, all of her hard work toward this one goal was the last thing on her mind and she couldn’t think of anything but the prophecy and her role in it.
She thanked the gods, after Aarik left, that Diego hadn’t stopped by to hound her about when she was going to get to work or how they weren’t paying her to lounge around. She had enough to worry about without adding in his intense overwhelming presence. She walked around to the cannon and disconnected it from her system. She headed back to her
chair and reached into her laptop bag once again and plucked out a smaller handheld version of the cannon that would produce less results but would give her an indication on what frequencies produce standing waves in this area, which would give her a starting point. The men could probably start working again if she was being honest with herself but, until she was sure, she didn’t want to take the risk.
She flipped on the power switch of her handheld levitator and as it hummed to life it brought a feeling of familiarity that was welcomed. Kiya pointed the device in the air and dropped a tiny piece of fuzz onto the sound waves and marveled at the science behind its flotation. She zoned out for a few minutes as she stared at the ball of fuzz while it hovered in the air like a dandelion seed suspended in the wind and tossed ideas around in her head. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched and decided that looking busy would kill two birds with one stone. If it was Diego he wouldn’t be able to accuse her of not working and if it was anyone else they wouldn’t stop to ask what she was doing or point out her obvious distraction.
She grabbed the fuzzball with her fingertips and turned the power off before she carefully placed it next to her laptop and searched her laptop bag once again for a USB cord. Sometimes it felt like her bag was magic, as stuff magically either appeared or disappeared at will. Kiya pulled the cord from her bag triumphantly and connected the handheld cannon to her laptop to run through the frequencies at multiple locations. She started at the dolmen and jotted down all frequencies that produced a standing wave at and around the massive stone megaliths.
By dinner time she had finished recording the data points at the main dolmen site and planned on asking Aarik if she could do the same inside the chamber. The handheld cannon wasn’t capable of moving such large structures and perhaps she could wait to use the large cannon again until she had taken the time to map it out with the smaller version instead. Aarik would probably appreciate being able to work longer hours, and as she walked back to camp she looked forward to discussing it with him.
Kiya didn’t have to wait long to see Aarik, as she approached the chow hall tent she found him waiting in front of the flap like a sentry. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the thought that he was waiting for her, but the closer she got she realized he was searching for something else and she was surprised at how disappointed she felt to know he wasn’t. It wasn’t until she was almost upon him that he turned towards her and acknowledged her presence with a smile. “Hey there. How’d it go?” he asked politely.
“It went well. In fact, it went so well that after dinner I plan on going inside to map out the chamber, and before you argue give me a chance to explain,” she said, and pulled out her mini cannon to give him a demonstration. “This baby here is what I will be using to scan the room. It doesn’t have the power to do any damage. I promise!” She turned on the power and watched his expression turn from one of defiance to one of wonder as she dropped the fuzz ball back into the sound waves and it floated in place.
“Wow. Did you build that yourself?” he asked, lifting his gaze toward hers in anticipation.
“I really shouldn’t have to answer that, but yes, I built it with my own two hands!” she said, placing her hand on her hip in audacity.
“I shouldn’t be surprised, I saw the larger version and what it was capable of, but you continue to amaze me. If you insist on going inside tonight, I must insist on going with you,” he replied matching her stance, which only made him look funny.
“Alright, but you’ll be bored. I’ll understand if you bow out early,” warned Kiya, in a teasing voice, putting the mini cannon away carefully.
“I doubt it. I could hang out in there for hours, to be honest, and just let my imagination run wild. I’ll stay out of your way, if you like, but I’m going in whether you like it or not,” he finished in a firm tone.
“If you insist, it’s not like I could stop you, even if I wanted to,” she replied, jokingly bumping him with her hip.
“At least we can agree on that,” he said with a smile, and then looked around the campsite again before his eyes returned to her. “Oh, yeah. Did you ever hear back from your company about Diego?”
“Nothing yet. I’ll check again after dinner... Speaking of dinner, are we going in?” she said, and gestured towards the entrance with her hands.
“Head on in. I’ll be right behind you,” he said, as he scanned the area again slowly.
“What are you looking for?” she asked out of curiosity, as she held the flap open and waited for his reply.
“Luke hasn’t reported back yet for dinner. Hope he didn’t run into any trouble,” Aarik said, muttering the last sentence.
“I heard that. Trouble? Why would he run into any trouble?” demanded Kiya.
“I’m sure he’s fine. He went for a hike a couple hours ago and should be back any time now,” Aarik said in defense.
“Hike? Whatever for?” questioned Kiya in confusion.
“For the profound beauty, I suppose,” Luke said from inside the tent entrance. “Sorry, didn’t realize you were waiting for me out here. I was the first one in for dinner tonight and offered Doris my assistance. Learned my lesson on that one, she had me digging a dig hole for a pig roast. Not so fond of shovels at the moment,” he finished, holding up his blistered hands as evidence.
“Poor baby,” cooed Kiya, which caused Aarik to chuckle from behind her.
Aarik cleared his throat, stepped up behind Kiya and said over her shoulder, “Now that we’re all here, let’s eat.” Kiya shivered as the words escaped his lips and danced across her skin like a gentle caress.
“Agreed, I’m starving,” said Kiya breathlessly, licking her lips accidentally. When she looked up at Luke he was grinning from ear to ear and before he could call her out in front of Aarik for her obvious reaction, she quickly moved inside, averted her eyes in embarrassment, and headed to the buffet table.
“Are you okay, Kiya? You look a little flushed,” teased Luke, when he caught up to her in the dinner line.
Kiya raised her head and tried to communicate in one glare that his commentary would not end well for him if he continued before she gritted out a response, “Fine thanks, just a little hot.”
“Right. It was a hot one out there today. Can I get you something to drink? An iced coffee?” he offered, quickly catching on to her irritation.
“Thanks, but I’m capable of getting my own,” she said, not wanting to let him get off that easily.
“Okay,” Luke said in a dopey voice.
She looked over at Luke and couldn’t stay mad at him for very long. He looked like a lost puppy dog that regretted getting out of the yard. “What are you doing after dinner?” she asked.
“After dinner, uh... um... well... I’ll be... um,” stammered Luke, before Aarik interrupted and answered for him. “He’ll be cataloging with Taylor since he took some time off this afternoon to explore,” finished Aarik, as he patted Luke’s shoulder from behind.
“Yes, I’ll be cataloging,” Luke said nodding his head in agreement.
Kiya grabbed her plate of chicken and waffles, after she drenched them in syrup, with a dramatic flare and stormed off in search of an open table. Aarik and Luke followed suit and without acknowledging her obvious mood change, plopped down digging into their food with enthusiasm. Kiya’s gaze flicked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what they were up to, but when it was obvious they had no plans on telling her anything else, she gave up and started eating the delicious meal in annoyance. They were up to something, but she couldn’t figure out what that something would be that would cause them to be so secretive. She decided that when she was alone with Aarik she would grill him for more information. She needed to be able to trust him and somehow she felt that if he trusted her enough to tell her about his secrets she would be able to do the same.
On the walk back to the chamber, Aarik stopped by his tent to pick up his tool belt and a couple of hard hats before he followed behind her quietly
. Just before she entered the chamber, he placed his hand on her right shoulder, gently pulling her around to face him. “I trust when you say that thing in your bag is harmless but just in case stay close to me when we’re inside,” he finished solemnly. His eyes roamed her facial features one more time, lingering on her lips before he sighed and brought his eyes to hers.
“I promise,” she whispered back, and before she could close the gap and kiss the man she turned abruptly and walked into the chamber. Kiya clamped her hard hat into place and flipped on the headlamp before she dug out her laptop and handed it to Aarik. “Will you hold this for me?” she croaked out and then added, “Please.”
“Of course. Just warn me before you plan on turning it on. I want to say a quick prayer for our lives,” he joked, holding out his arms like a mummy to support it.
“Ha ha,” she replied dryly. Kiya pulled the cord free with her left hand and pulled her hefty laptop bag over her head with her right hand before she set it on the ground and grabbed the levitator from the side pocket. “I need to add a Wi-Fi card to this baby, but until then we are tethered.” She finished attaching the USB cord to the levitator and held out her hand for her laptop.
Aarik closed the gap with his long strides and instead of giving her the laptop he bent down, picked up the other end of the USB cord and plugged it into her laptop. “I’ll hold it for you and only touch where you say to touch, I promise,” he said, giving her a boy scout salute and a charming smile.
“Alright, but no touching the keyboard,” she said in mock defeat. Kiya swiveled the laptop around in his outstretched arms to face her and opened it with shaking hands. Working in close proximity to him all evening was going to be torture, she was either going to explode with pent up sexual frustration or she would become immune to his pull. She hoped for the latter scenario but secretly loved the excitement his presence brought out of her. “Here goes nothing. That was your warning by the way,” she finished over her shoulder, before she turned on the levitator. When nothing happened, she turned towards him and said, “See, told you nothing would happen. Do me a favor and watch the monitor, if you see parallel waves instead of interlocking waves like winding DNA let me know.”
Sounds of the Forgotten Page 13